Great news on Loopie. It is a slow tortuous road for the Aruban Cannon but at his pace of development he should make it to the Show in the mid-2020s

Even better news on Benson. He still K's plenty but I suppose they could live with a Bobby Bradley level of strikeouts if Will hits for the same average and homers with the same frequency as Bradley since unlike Bobby he's a good baserunner, a good fielder in a prime position and has a strong arm.

Q Holmes, on the other hand, is not hitting anything. His game has no power so he needs a good solid batting average and some gap power to go with his "80" speed and good CF defense.

And as for Mota, give him time. Although when I look at his stats, he's older than many of the other Class A starters [23 in a couple weeks] and his career numbers are not much. But he came on well last season in Mah Valley and he is hard to homer against.

Mota, as I've mentioned, is a big guy with a great fastball (98) but he don't have a lot to go with it. I would try to get him to concentrate on one secondary pitch and work like hell on it. A reliever can make it on 2 pitches and a 98 MPH fastball.

that sounds like a plan. Who's our minor league pitching guru? You'll need to get in touch.

BA highlights for Wednesday games:

Oscar Mercado, OF, Indians. Mercado had three hits and walked once for Triple-A Columbus. The Indians’ No. 16 prospect was able to use his plus speed on the base paths, stealing four bases and scoring twice.

And:

CLE AAA Bradley, Bobby 1B 4 0 0 0 .256
CLE AAA Mercado, Oscar CF 4 2 3 1 .302 2B (4), BB (6), 4 SB (7)
CLE HiA Gonzalez, Oscar LF 3 2 2 1 .362 SB (2)
CLE HiA Jones, Nolan 3B 3 2 1 0 .255 BB (13)
CLE LoA Benson, Will CF 3 1 2 2 .282 2B (3), BB (7), SB (4) some of everything
CLE LoA Freeman, Tyler SS 3 1 0 0 .317 2 BB (7), SB (4) as noted above he's learning how to take walks this year; could become a very good top of the order hitter
None of yesterday's pitchers were in the top 30 so don't get reported on. Therefore we will never see Karnichak in one of these reports, or Morgan, or Burgos, or even the reborn Juan Hillman.

This may not comfort many Indians fans but Juan Mota reminds me of Jose Mesa when he first came up with Baltimore and when we first got him.

Many may not remember, Mesa was a starter with Baltimore and his first year with us, like 1993. He was moved to the pen cause his weak secondary pitches, the rest is history. Some great, one very very bad.

Today's starters, in ERA order top to bottom:

McCarthy, Lake County, 1.80
Peoples, Columbus 0.93
Solter, Akron, 0.00 in 4 innings
Hillman, Lynchburg, 0.00 in 11 innings.

Not sure if any currently rate as prospects but Hillman has a chance to regain that status and McCarthy is another one of those college kid strike throwers we like to draft but not sure if he throws hard enough to move up far. He's actually walked 5 in 10 innings this year after walking 9 in 51 in 2018

One bad game has done too much for Mesa's reputation. He became a really terrific closer after his Baltimore starting days. And what ever happened to Kyle Washington who we dealt for him? No one has ever blamed Kyle for losing a world series.

Akron RubberDucks transactions
LHP Rob Kaminsky placed on the 7-day IL (Blister on left index finger)
LHP Brennan Bernadino assigned to Mahoning Valley

so they lose two and gain none?

Matt Whitehouse returns from AAA to spell Kaminsky as a LH reliever.
As you noted earlier Brady is back and that made Bernardino superfluous

this will be Loopstok's fourth season in Lynchburg, not counting last year when he played exclusively in AA.
Hillcats still have healthy Gavin Collins, who's lately been mostly at 1st base
and Mike Rivera a 6th round pick 2 years known for his defense who has been injured most of his first seasons. In fact the 31 AB this year are 10 fewer than all last year and 16 than 2017.
Loopstok will be spending a lot of time catching in the bullpen and/or coaching first base

Yeah, I posted the other moves in Other folder since it affected Indians. Should have posted them all together so not to confuse.

Holy cow, Will Benson has 3 home runs tonight!

Solo, 3 run, and grand slam.

He hits a 2 run shot his next time up he can go for home run cycle.

Son of a biscuit, he did hit another homer! 4!

But it was another solo shot.

cRaZy

And speaking of guys who are hitting baseballs very far. Eric Haase homered again tonight. I think that is 4 straight games with a homer.

Meanwhile, Roberto Perez is in Cleveland like